Fulham 1-1 Liverpool: Reds drop two points in grim performance

A seriously under par Liverpool dropped two points, but might look upon it as one gained away at Fulham.

The hosts started their Premier League return poorly, but had improved in recent weeks and a win away at Leicester should have been enough warning for Liverpool ahead of this game.

But it appears the reds arrived with precisely the wrong attitude and were swamped by the home side for the large part of the first half.

By the time Fulham's deserved opening goal arrived, they could have had a handful.

Alisson Becker was perhaps the difference that allowed the reds to enter half time with half a chance left in the game.

Lookman and Cavaleiro were constant threats to the reds defence which saw the return of Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold to the starting XI for the first time in some weeks.

But Joel Matip was replaced at half-time with a suggestion he had endured some back pain.  Add him to the list.

Naby Keita was unavailable for the game through continuing fitness concerns, although Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain finally returned to the matchday squad.  Sadly, he didn't get an opportunity to come on with the game so finely balanced towards the end.

As it happened: Fulham 1-1 LFC

Fulham had drawn saves from Alisson a couple of times early on - but the reds too did have a couple of chances - it wasn't entirely one way.  Salah should have put a chance on target after he had done the excellent work of creating a chance inside the penalty area.  Sadio Mane too saw an unsighted header go over the bar.

VAR, as usual, had its three minutes of fame when it reviewed a tackle by Fabinho in the area.  The referee had already signalled no foul before the VAR officials replayed a potential incident about 10 times.  It then sent the referee over to the pitchside monitor were he added at least five further reviews.

Clearly, no obvious error in his initial decision, and Fulham had a corner.

Five minutes later however, Fulham did go ahead. From a corner the ball was cleared but only to the edge of the area and fed through to Decordova-Reid who smashes it into the far corner past our Brazilian keeper.

Klopp was animated on the touchline as he urged his team to 'wake up'.  They did, slowly, and continued their improvement in the second half.  Minamino replacing Matip meant that Henderson joined Fabinho as the reds two centre-backs.

With just over 10 minutes left Gini Wijnaldum's free kick was handled by the defenders in the wall.  Penalty kick which Mo Salah just about managed to convert.

Ultimately Liverpool didn't have enough to add further in the driving London rain and the 2,000 fans inside Craven Cottage got to enjoy their first Premier League match for six years.  The reds missed out on their chance to go ahead of Spurs who suffered a similarly frustrating 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace earlier in the day.

But the reds can make amends when they host Spurs at Anfield on Wednesday.  The reds will have to put in a much improved performance from this though.

Just four wins in 9 Premier League games and no away wins since the middle of September is an ongoing concern.

Man of the Match: Alisson

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